National Nurses United

A P R I L | M AY | J U N E 2 0 2 4 W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G N A T I O N A L N U R S E 19 S pring is always a time of action and growth. We can see it in the budding trees, in the blooming plants, and in the fierce energy of NNU nurses. Union RNs have been rising up in our full power this April and May, speaking out to members of Congress, the press, and the public on the issues that matter most to our patients and our profession. I couldn't have been more proud to join NNU nurses across the country for our federal lobby day on April 29, when we gathered online to lobby our representatives in virtual meetings. We meet with our reps every spring, year after year, because we know that when it comes to understanding what's really happening in U.S. hospitals, members of Congress must hear from nurses, not just from corporate lobbyists funded by our employers. One key bill we lobbied on this April was The Nurse Staffing Standards for Hospital Patient Safety and Quality Care Act, our federal ratios bill. Safe staffing is such a clear example of how we nurses are fighting to advance the truth while our employers are telling outright lies to increase their profit margins. Hospitals are constantly trying to pass off a sob story about how there is a so- called "nursing shortage," and they just really need Congress to help them cut more corners to deal with this shortage. As nurses, we know there is no "nursing shortage." There is just a shortage of nurses willing to work in the dangerous conditions created by our profit-driven employers. To hammer this home, we spent our lobby day telling our personal stories. We took our representatives right there into our shifts, describing one patient falling out of bed, while another one needs help getting to the bathroom, while another one is crying out for their pain meds—and on and on, with no time for nurses to eat a bite of food or rest our bodies or our minds for 12 or more hours. And we were clear that this has been nurses' reality for so long (since way before Covid) that nurses have left the profession in droves. The solution is clear: Our employers must invest in safe staffing to keep experienced nurses around and to attract and retain new nurses. Congress must listen to nurses and hold hospitals accountable for investing in safe staffing. But you wouldn't know "invest- ing in safe staffing" was the solution to this crisis if you only heard our employers talk, and this is especially true in the age of A.I. Our employers desperately want to boost their profits by running at barebones staffing levels. Historically, that meant piling as many patients as possible on one nurse. In the age of A.I., that also means that our employers are moving faster than ever to try to boost profits by replacing skilled nurses with unproven, untested technology. Nurses are already seeing some employ- ers rely on A.I. to assess changes to our patients' condition, to automate patient handoffs during a shift change, to automati- cally summarize clinician-patient encounters, and to automate note taking, all despite these systems' tendency to make mistakes and miss important patient details. Of course, they're marketing these technolo- gies as a solution to the so-called "nursing shortage." (You know, the crisis that they created by driving nurses away from the profession!) As we develop our regulatory approach to A.I., we used our 2024 federal Lobby Week to keep educating our representatives on how technologies deployed to boost employer profits won't help fix our broken health care system. Because again, our employers are in their other ear touting A.I. and other unproven, untested technologies as a cure-all. Nurses also held a critical media briefing about A.I. on May 9, during Nurses Week. RNs from across the country shared testi- mony about what they are seeing in their facilities, and about the danger of employers using this sudden A.I. boom as an excuse to shatter the sacred bond we have with our patients, while lining their pockets. As nurses, we don't just rely on our book smarts and scientific training. We also work to heal people by hold- ing their hands, wiping their tears, talking to them about their families. There's no "health" or "care" for patients who feel isolated in their suffer- ing, away from the human empathy of registered nurses. So we will never be silent as our employers try to disrupt and auto- mate what we do for our patients, who all deserve human touch, nursing judgment, and compassionate care. From Lobby Week to Nurses Week, to all the ways we are constantly fighting for our patients every single shift, NNU nurses have been growing our advocacy to new heights this spring. And we know the seeds we planted in the minds and hearts of our representatives, the press, and the public will come to fruition, as we continue stand- ing up for our patients in the months and years to come. Bonnie Castillo, RN is executive director of National Nurses United. Bonnie Castillo, RN Executive Director, National Nurses United Planting Seeds From Lobby Week to Nurses Week, we've been growing our advocacy and power this season There's no "health" or "care" for patients who feel isolated in their suffering, away from the human empathy of registered nurses. So we will never be silent as our employers try to disrupt and automate what we do for our patients, who all deserve human touch, nursing judgment, and compassionate care.

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